


Imposters Among Us

by gwendolyncooper



Category: Among Us (Video Game), Torchwood
Genre: Among Us but Torchwood, Each chapter gets progressively longer I just have a lot of feelings, F/M, I spent way too much time playing the tasks in freeplay to get this right, It's gonna get creepy, M/M, My whole life is Among Us and I can't help it, There's uhhh gore tho so be careful, They're all going to die I'm very sorry, and sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:07:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26690368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gwendolyncooper/pseuds/gwendolyncooper
Summary: The Torchwood team (+Rhys) are out for a night of fun when they end up on a spaceship with no power, no info, and no crew. Known only as THE SKELD, the team tries to fix the ship and figure out what happened to its previous occupants.But something out there is killing them.Something that may be someone they know.
Relationships: Gwen Cooper/Rhys Williams, Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones
Comments: 29
Kudos: 39
Collections: Torchwood Fan Fests: Bingo Fest 2020





	1. The First Death

Rhys Williams can’t remember how long they’ve been on this station, but he does know one thing in particular: he’s not made out for this space shit. He’s not even supposed to  _ be _ here. He’s not part of the team, not Torchwood. But Gwen had dragged him out for a team bonding night, and as it does so often with his wife’s job, one thing had led to another, and now they were stuck here. Trapped, on a dying spacecraft, in the dark void of the galaxy. He just knew he had to take his wife home. He had to get them both home safely at the end of all this, and he was doing his damnedest to make it happen.

The hallways were dark and terrifying. Strange noises and sounds echoed around him as he made his way through the damaged corridors, his own footsteps sounding heavily in his ears as he made his way along in the dim emergency lighting. His gaze remained on the screen embedded in the wrist of his suit, guiding his little blip of a life form along a virtual map. In the shadows, with his black spacesuit, he was perhaps less visible than he felt, which he didn’t mind. He knew the people here on this ship, but if they weren’t Gwen, he would rather not meet them in the dark.

**REACTOR.**

The words on the wall caught his attention, and he let out a soft sigh of relief. It was where Jack had instructed him to go.  _ Start up the main reactor, _ he’d said,  _ it’ll let us get to work on the other systems. _ Rhys had doubt in his ability to do such a task, but he’d been assured that it was intuitive.

So here he was.

The doors remained open, dead and broken like the rest of the ship, and as he passes through, he half-expects them to snap shut around him. There’s a feeling of  _ death _ among these empty corridors - no real explanation as to what had happened to bring it to this state, or how they’d gotten here. The only information they had found laid within the protective suits they’d all donned, and the name of the craft, emblazoned on the wall of the cafeteria area.

**_THE SKELD._ **

Where was the original crew of the Skeld? Where were the bodies, or proof of impact that would cause the damage?

They were all gone, without a trace. Without...any explanation. So now it was up to Torchwood (plus Rhys Williams) to get them home.

Gloved fingers tapped against a display screen, and it lit up, mirroring the nine-button keypad to the right. A light flashed; he hit the button it corresponded to. An affirmative beep filtered through the air, and he let out a slight sigh of relief. The first light flashed again, and then another - he entered the sequence. What followed was an increasingly aggravating game of Simon Says, mirroring the instructions on the screen for what seemed an eternity until finally,  _ finally,  _ he heard a hum as the giant reactor before him rose to life, the lights around brightening and the ship beginning to move.

“Bloody good job, Williams,” he congratulated himself, staring up at the blue heart-fire of the reactor with a smile as the light danced along the visor of his helmet. “Not a bad start at all.” So maybe they could fix this, then. He’d go find Gwen, now, help with whatever tasks she’d been assigned. Make certain they were both safe, and get this thing going. He’d never been off-planet before, and this was something of a terrifying experience. But as he stared into the fiercely burning reactor, he could see the beauty of a star within its heart. Right, maybe not all this alien stuff was terrifying. He’d see if he could bring Gwen in here to see this.

He was so transfixed by the reactor that he didn’t hear the footsteps behind him as another person entered the room. The light of the reactor prevented any shadow from falling where he could see - he never once saw the face of his killer as a knife was raised high into the air and  _ plunged _ downward, tearing through the black material and destroying skin and muscle. A strangled, gasping sound escaped the lorry driver as he stiffened, the white-hot pain of injury intensifying as the serrated blade was dragged out of his frame, and plunged in twice more.

Arms wrapped about him as the knife was removed for the third time, clumsily lowering his body to the ground. Hot, red blood pooled from the torn suit onto the metal floor as he was left in front of the reactor. His vision blurred; he could only see the retreating form of a spacesuit-clad assailant leaving at a quick pace through the doors they’d entered through.

_ Fuck, christ, it’s one of us. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote out all of the killing orders and reasoning for it for each person, so as they die, I’ll post them at the end of the chapter.
> 
> For Rhys, had he been the imposter, it would have been:
> 
> Rhys would have been Jack, Ianto, Tosh, Owen, Gwen.
> 
> Well for Rhys, it’s driven by internal bias. Jack has always been a low level threat in his mind, and Gwen he fights against killing until the last. The rest are Ianto to avoid suspicion, Tosh because tech, Owen because he’s the last before Gwen. ;)


	2. The Second Death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the tongue death and may be disturbing, proceed with caution!

Owen Harper doesn’t like this, not one bit. Empty spaceship, destroyed systems, no signs of the crew or who or  _ what _ ever caused this?

Well, frankly, it’s sus at best.

He’d taken the medbay, because of course he had. No one else was better equipped to analyze what scarce samples they’d found of the only life aboard - some sort of alien fungus, it seemed, discovered shortly after they had arrived. The area was eerily quiet as he stepped into it, using the emergency lightings and a light projected from his suit helmet he’d discovered quite on accident. At least they could all tell each other apart in these suits - with one of each color, they looked like something from a clown parade. He’d chosen the darker green, once all the more reasonable colors had been claimed. It suited him, he supposed - not that it mattered. At least he wasn’t like Jack, who had immediately claimed the garishly bright pink suit like a child with a toy.

He’d wanted to go in pairs, but there was too much to do on the ship to stay together. He’d been surprised that Gwen had let Rhys go off alone, but in the end, it was necessary. Repair the ship. Figure out what they were doing here. Get home safely and alive.

And in the meantime, analyze this fungus to see if it held any useful information.

The scarce sample he had was put into a set of five test tubes, and put in the alien machine to analyze. Luckily, it seemed this thing knew what it was doing, and had a relatively understandable interface, despite the foreign language, and it was only a few moments of fiddling about with it while he muttered under his breath before it began the process with a cheery chirp.

_ Analyzing Sample -- 60 seconds remaining. _

“Right, could be worse,” he returned, before tapping the comms unit built into the suit. “Oi, anyone around?” They’d discovered that there was some sort of interference on the ship - the comms only worked when within an unreasonably short distance of each other. He supposed it was unrealistic to hope any of them would be that close by, but the constant silence in the ship was really getting to him, despite his unwillingness to admit that to himself. “I’m in the medbay - looks like our friendly local fungus here may have a clue to what happened to the crew. Don’t know why there’s no sign of them, though.”

He’s rambling - no one can hear him, probably, but it does help break the silence. The seconds tick by with agonizing slowness, before the machine lights up - one single red light among four blue.

“What’ve we got here?” He opened up the analysis, eyes widening as he looked over it. The mutation rate was nearly  _ impossible, _ based on what he’d seen previously, in either human or alien entities. It seemed to be changing into something more and more complex by the second, as though evolution were fast-forwarding by billions of years before his very eyes.

And then another soft  _ ding _ emanated from the machine, and another file was highlighted.  _ Previous research? _ He wondered, as he opened it up.

For the next few moments, he could only stare in horror at the research done on it before. That’s it, then. That’s what happened to the crew. The tests, the samples, the data and videos - he flinched and looked away. He’d seen some horrific things in his time, but this…

_ This… _

Footsteps in the doorway startled him, and he turned, eyes wide as he took in the figure he soon recognized. “Oh, it’s you,” he murmured, turning back to the screen and shutting down the gory videos. “Listen, I’m analyzing that fungus you found, and I think I know what happened to the crew that was here before. I need to do a couple scans on you and the rest to make certain you haven’t been infected - should be fine, since our suits weren’t compromised, but--”

He paused, as the other reached up to their helmet, unsealing the lock that kept their air pure. “No - what are you doing, you can’t do that! You’ll die, put it back--” He lunged forward, reaching out for the helmet, but freezing as a chilling, echoing  _ scream _ bounced down the corridors, resounding off the walls and ceilings until the entirety of the Skeld  **resonated** with it. He knew that sound - had heard that anguish and raw desperation before.

“Oh my god - oh, god, that’s--”

The helmet was lifted.

It was already too late for Doctor Owen Harper.

A tentacle - something like a massive, serpentine  _ tongue _ emerged from the space behind the helmet where his teammate’s head should be. Before he could even  _ scream, _ it smashed through the faceguard of his helmet, scattering glass into it. And now the doctor  _ did _ scream, panic and fear clear in his voice before the sound was choked off. The tentacle wrapped about his head - once, twice, three times, and god, the  _ pressure _ of it as it  _ squeezed. _ Shards of glass caught between the disgusting, warm flesh and the doctor’s face sliced into his skin, forced in further until it struck  _ bone, _ and the pressure -- fuck, he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t scream, his hands were flailing, scrabbling uselessly at his helmet, and the pressure increased...and increased..and  _ increased-- _

His skull imploded like a wet balloon, crushed into gory unrecognizable bits, embedded with glass and covered in blood, before the tentacle withdrew, slurping back into the helmet of the crewmate that Owen had trusted. The air seal reasserted itself, and the head turned as the body in the green suit slumped lifeless to the ground.

The scream continued to ring out in the hallway.

The thing that had once been a member of the Torchwood team took a moment to gather itself, before it turned and ran in the direction of anguish that it knew it had caused.

Two down, three to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Owen, had he been the imposter, his killing order/reasoning would be:
> 
> Tosh, Gwen, Rhys, and then Jack & Ianto however he could have gotten them. His rely more on compassion.
> 
> Tosh first because she doesn’t deserve to see all this death. Gwen next because she’d want to die before Rhys. Rhys next if he can get him before he finds Gwen. Ianto and Jack, no easy way to avoid this absolutely destroying them, so he’ll get them as he can.


	3. The Third Death

Gwen Cooper had felt unsettled from the moment this whole thing began. Moving through the darkened hallways alone, watching the blip of light that is her own life sign moving through the glowing display screen on her wrist, she hadn’t been able to shake the feeling of being watched. She’d been sent to admin, to sort out the access needed to get into the ship’s computers and get them out of there. Each suit had come with a swipe card, and since the pink suit had been snatched by Jack before she could get to it, she’d shrugged into the white one, making her and Rhys a black and white matching pair. As it turned out, hers had the highest security clearance, so off she went to get control of the systems.

Really, this should have been Tosh’s job, but the slight woman in the purple suit had been sent off to navigation. It made her nervous to be split up, and she’d grabbed Rhys’ gloved hand to squeeze it for a moment before Jack sent him to the reactor. He’d rested his helmeted head against hers, gazing at her through the view screens, and she’d smiled at him before he left. She was eager to find him once more.

The administrative room was large, and empty. A bank of computers along one wall, a large, seemingly holographic table in the center. As it turned out, there were a variety of tasks necessary to get the systems even available to accept her swipe card. After fumbling within a wall panel for a few moments, she’d managed to reconnect some stripped wires. It was a task, her gloved hands clumsy, but she’d (hopefully) connected all the correct colors to their homes before uploading data that Tosh had downloaded from a port in the cafeteria for her. It was only  _ then _ that the machine along the far side of the table had hummed to life, and she’d pulled out the swipe card.

It fitted into the slot easily enough -  _ swipe. _

**BAD READ. TRY AGAIN.**

_ Swipe. _

**TOO FAST. TRY AGAIN.**

_ Swipe. _

**TOO FAST. TRY AGAIN.**

_ Swiiiipe. _

**TOO SLOW. TRY AGAIN.**

_ Swipe. _

**BAD READ. TRY AGAIN.**

“Are you fucking  _ kidding _ me?!”

Her voice sounds too loudly through the room, and she inhales deeply.  _ Right, _ a stupid swipey machine was not about to get the best of her. She inserted it, and ran it carefully all the way through, not too fast, not too slow.

**BAD READ. TRY AGAIN.**

“Fucking  _ Christ, _ you stupid piece of shit!”

What followed was a three-minute tirade at an uninterested piece of machinery, which continued to glow and hum along its merry way while it was verbally berated by an irate welshwoman.

It was only after she calmed down that she opted to try  _ one _ more time - mocked, as she was, by the cheerfully glowing instructions,  _ SWIPE CARD. _

This time, it only took  _ three _ tries before the machine chimed cheerily, accepting the card with a  _ blessed _ finality, and allowing her access to the systems. It was at that exact moment that the ship hummed to life around her, lights brightening, and she glanced around with a proud sort of grin.  _ That’s my Rhys. _ Access was unlocked for all the ports around the ship before she slipped the card back into its ready-made placement in her suit. She might as well go find Rhys, now, that the reactor was clearly started. She feels bad for dragging him into this chaos, now - all she’d wanted was for her husband to join her in a night out with her coworkers. And now there was  _ this _ mess. She was going to get him home, safely, she’d bet her  _ life _ on it.

The corridors don’t seem  _ quite _ as haunting with the lights on, but now the humming of the reactor feels like the inner workings of a beast, and they all victims caught inside. The thought sent shivers down her spine, and she picked up her pace, following the map along to the reactor.

“Rhys! Rhys, you got it up, oh, you lovely handsome--”

She stopped dead in her tracks.

“ _...Rhys? _ ”

She’s been through this before, holding Rhys’ dead body in her arms, seeing his blood all over, knowing she’s lost the love of her life. As it turns out, she reacts quite the same, whether she can reverse it or not.

Her screams are muffled, somewhat, by the helmet -- but not enough to keep them from rebounding down the hallways, echoing through the corpse of the Skeld as she drops to her knees and gathers the lifeless body of her husband to her chest.

“Rhys!  _ RHYS,  _ no, you -- you can’t, you can’t, you’re not supposed to  _ be _ here, you  **can’t!** ”

“ _ Gwen! _ ”

It’s Jack’s voice, as he comes running down the hallway and skids in through the open doors. There’s hesitation, for only a second, before he takes action, reaching out for her. “Gwen, hey, what happened--?”

“Gwen?” Ianto’s voice, from the doorway, and then, shortly after,

“Gwen!”

Toshiko. They’re gathering here, one by one, to gaze upon the lifeless body of the man Gwen most loves. Jack’s arms wrap about her, and it’s like he’s pressed a button. She falls silent, clinging to Rhys’ body, as Jack holds her tightly against his chest from behind. There’s a sudden, ringing quiet in the room, and the hum of the reactor’s core underscoring it all.

“What happened?” Ianto’s voice is rough with shock, and had Gwen been looking, she’d have seen Tosh rest her purple-gloved hand against the arm of the red suit that covers his body.

“I - I don’t know…” Her voice breaks, and it seems almost unfair that she can speak at all. She remembers the last time. She’d screamed until she couldn’t any longer and then she’d remained silent until anger took over her body. It wasn’t happening this time. Perhaps it was the imminent danger, or perhaps she had simply grown. But the wild grief stays trapped within her white space suit with her, instead of ringing through the empty hallways to fill the Skeld with her mourning still.

“Has anyone seen him?” Jack’s voice, keeping them focused, as he looks back at the others, his arms still dragging Gwen closer. Red blood coats white and pink as though canvases, as though this were art and not horror and gore and loss.

“I was in navigation,” Tosh managed quietly, and Ianto’s answer follows soon after.

“You sent me to communications.”

“I was in electrical,” Jack answered quietly, shaking his head. “I saw Gwen pass the door while I was working on the wiring.”

“...where’s Owen?”

Tosh’s voice sounds suddenly worried, and that catches even Gwen’s attention as she glances around with them.

“I sent him to medbay,” Jack responds, and it’s now that he begins to stand, pulling Gwen with him.

“No, Jack--”

“Gwen--” He pulled her upright, forcing her to release Rhys’ body, and turned her to face him. His hands grasped her shoulders, and he leaned in to stare at her through the visors, blue eyes serious as he gazed into her green, teary stare. “We’ll come back for him, I  _ promise. _ But we have to find Owen. And if someone or some _ thing _ hurt Rhys, then we can’t be alone.”

She stared at him for a moment longer, before nodding, her breathing shaking and uneven as she tried to gulp down air. She was a Torchwood agent. She’d handled worse, and she’d have to. Her team needed her.

Jack’s pink-gloved hand would have been comical as he touched the side of her helmet, were he not simply guiding her face away from the sight of her husband, lying in his own blood on the ground. The touch left a streak of red on her visor, which she did her best to ignore, and allowed Jack to take her hand in his and guide her away. Tosh and Ianto waited at the doorway until they were joined, before they all took off at a fast pace down the corridor.

“Which way is the medbay?” Jack demanded, snapping back into the leader of a team, rather than the softness of a man comforting a grieving friend.

“Up here and to the right!” Tosh reported, eyes on her map as they tore down the passage.

“Owen!” Ianto called out, taking the lead as they rounded the corner.

“Owen!” Tosh echoed, and Jack and Gwen stayed close on her heels. “That door on the right!”

The door hissed open as they all piled into the medbay -- and  _ froze. _

“...no--”

“Ianto, get Gwen and Toshiko  **out.** ” Jack’s voice was  _ grim, _ and sharp, and brooked no argument. The red-suited man turned immediately, wrapping an arm each around the women’s shoulders and pulling them along with no uncertainty to the door.

“Wait--”

“Owen!”

“ _ Go, _ ” Ianto responded, giving them no opportunity to turn and see the mess of gore and blood that had been their medic, though the quiet tone to his voice told Gwen that he, too, would never forget the sight of it.

The door hissed shut behind him, and they stood in silence as Jack stayed behind. Shock and a quiet horror settled over the trio as they simply stood, staring at the empty corridors and each other. Tosh moved first, stepping out of Ianto’s grasp to reach for Gwen. The red stain of blood transferred from white to purple as the women clung to each other, holding each other as though the world would fall apart were they to let go. Ianto leaned against the wall, palms flat against it as he leaned his red helmet against the surface, staring up at the ceiling. Save for Gwen’s muffled sobs and the soft sniffles from Tosh, the hallway was silent.

No one knew how long it took before the door hissed open once more, and Jack stepped out, the tears unshed in his blue eyes clearly visible through the visor.

“...Tosh, Gwen, stay here.” His voice was rough, and broke on the last word. For a moment, silence remained, before he inhaled deeply and glanced to Ianto. “Ianto, come with me. We’ll bring Rhys here.”

“We’re staying together,” Gwen responded, her tone hard and demanding despite the tears streaking her face. “None of us are going to be alone.”

“We can’t stay together forever,” Tosh whispered, but Gwen shook her head.

“Then at least until we get them in there, just--” She cleared her throat, releasing Tosh and squeezing her hand now before she stepped away. “Just not yet.”

“...okay,” Jack acquiesced, and Ianto nodded before he pushed himself away from the wall. The trek back to the reactor room was silent, their footsteps mixing and mingling as they bounced in echoes off the walls. As they approached the door, Jack signaled a halt, glancing to the women. “You two watch our backs. We’ll get Rhys.” A moment of unspoken communication passed between the two men, and as they entered, Ianto’s hand brushed Jack’s arm in the briefest of manners. At least, Gwen thought as she and Tosh took up their posts, gazing into the dark at either end of the hall, Jack and Ianto had each other still.

She didn’t look at the body as the pair emerged, carrying it between them. She didn’t glance at the blood still dripping from him in a trail, pointing the direction they took him. She waited as they laid him on a bed in the medbay, and Jack grabbed a sheet. The bed next to him was occupied, too, and there was the sole of a green boot visible beneath that sheet.

_ Rhys. Owen. What is happening? _

She thought she should be more afraid, perhaps, but now that the wild grief had passed and the shock had settled in, she simply felt  _ heavy. _ A hand was held up to pause Jack, and a white hand took black in both of hers, clasping it against her chest as she leaned down. Her helmet clinked quietly as it met Rhys’, and she closed her eyes for a moment.

“I’ll solve this. I love you,” she promised quietly, before she stood, and laid his hand alongside his body carefully, stepping back with a nod. The sheet was draped over him, obscuring him from sight, before she looked to Jack.

“There’s a security system,” Tosh offered quietly, and the three of them turned to her. “Maybe we can see what happened.”

“Lead the way,” Jack responded, and as a unit, they headed through the doors, determined to catch their unseen killer.

\-------

“There’s nothing,” Tosh threw up her hands in defeat, and Gwen felt the heaviness settle into her ever more deeply. “The cameras didn’t come on until last as the systems started up, and they only came on by the time we were all in the medbay.”

“It looks as though they only show the hallways, not the actual rooms,” Ianto added, leaning over her shoulder with a hand on the table, before pointing with his free hand. “Look, we can see ourselves leaving medbay, but nothing actually  _ inside. _ ”

“Doesn’t do us much good right now then, does it?” Jack asked with a heavy sigh, crossing his arms defensively over his chest.

“So what do we do now?” Gwen asked quietly, from where she stood in the corner, her arms crossed and her head down. There was a silence as they glanced around at each other, and she knew their decision before they said it aloud.

“We have to fix the ship,” Tosh responded. “It’s our only hope of getting out of here alive.”

“And there’s too much to do all at once, so we have to split up.” Ianto’s dry tone made it clear he was anything but a fan of the concept, and Jack’s heavy sigh echoed it.

“Gwen, you should stay here.” Gwen’s head raised to look at their captain, and he shook his head. “Look, you watch the cams. We can deadbolt the door so only you can open it from the inside, so you’ll be safe. If you see  _ anything, _ you can set the emergency alarm off where we found it in the cafeteria. It’s not that far to run.”

“You don’t think I’ll be helpful,” she responded quietly, and Jack shook his head.

“I don’t think you’ll be careful enough, okay? Look, we all lost Owen, but none of us were married to him. Just - just stay here. We’ll fix the ship and rendezvous right back in this room.”

“...okay.” It was whispered and given with a nod, and Jack let out a sigh.

“Great. Tosh, you get back to navigation. Ianto, how’s the comms?”

“Almost there.”

“Good, finish it up and start on the engines. I’ll head back to electrical. All good?”

“Good.”

“Good.”

“...Gwen?”

“Good,” she responded, taking Tosh’s place at the seat before the bank of computers. As she turned to look at the others, she couldn’t help but notice Rhys’ blood on all of their suits - Jack and Ianto from carrying him, Tosh from holding Gwen. She’s covered in it herself, she knows. She’s trying not to think about it.

“Good. Lock the doors.”

They exited, leaving Gwen alone as she did as promised, jamming them and watching Jack attempt to open them from the outside on the cams. They stayed shut, and he turned and gave a thumbs up to the nearest camera before speaking to the others. She supposed he didn’t realize that his voice still filtered in faintly despite the door.

“I just worry that if she comes up against this thing, she’ll want to kill it so badly that she won ‘t be smart about it. You two stay safe. Sound the alarm if anything happens, got it?”

The affirmative was given from both, and she watched as they split, heading to their disparate destinations. While she was angry at Jack for the decision, she knew, deep down, that he was correct. She was on edge, and furious, and she felt as though her world was blurry.

Rhys was gone.  _ Rhys was gone. _ Everything in her world, in her plans, was off-kilter. Everything was a mess. There was no future any longer, no path or understanding. As she sat staring at the screens, she felt the grief well up in her again, harsh and loud and ready to pour over and drown her given the chance--

And then, for a moment, a sense of calm. A familiar presence. And, though the feeling wasn’t physical, it was as though there was a hand on her shoulder.

“...Rhys?” She knew it was stupid, and ridiculous - she didn’t quite believe in ghosts. But for a moment...just for a moment, she hoped they were real. And that he was there, watching over her. She put her head down on her hands for a moment and simply breathed, tears dripping down her face and onto the visor of her helmet. “I’m sorry, Rhys, I never should have brought you here. I don’t know who’s doin’ the killin’ and I never thought I’d lose you--”

She could almost imagine him reassuring her, telling her it was all right, and that she’d solve it. In fact, she was so caught up in imagining it that she missed the creaking of a vent in the shadowy corner of the room.

She missed the figure climbing up out of it, near-silent.

And she missed their presence until she glanced up and saw the reflection in the screen, all too late.

“How-?”

The gloved fist came crashing into her skull as she turned, throwing her off balance as her head rebounded off the helmet and she crashed to the ground. The wind was knocked out of her, but she struggled to get up, lifting her head and reaching out, to grab the desk, the chair,  _ anything _ to get her up off of the ground before her doom reached her.

“...it’s not you!” It couldn’t be, she  _ knew _ them, there was no way in  _ hell _ they’d do that. Not to Rhys. Not to  _ Owen. _ Something was wrong,  _ desperately _ wrong--

She saw them draw the gun in the reflection on the screens.

She never heard the shot that went straight through the back of her helmet and into her skull.

She never saw the blood splatter over the security screens, or the creaking of the vent as her murderer climbed away, out of sight of the cameras.

Rhys was, as it turned out, waiting for her across the veil.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one hurt, I’m so sorry.
> 
> Had Gwen been the imposter, her order of killing & reasoning would have been as follows:
> 
> Jack, Tosh, Ianto, Owen, Rhys.
> 
> Gwen is in order of threat. Jack is most dangerous, always has been. Tosh has a whole ship at her disposal, if she can get into it, so she has to go quickly. Ianto is dangerous, full stop, she knows that. Owen is too, but Ianto is more physically dangerous. And then Rhys last both because of threat and because of internal bias.


	4. The Fourth Death

Jack Harkness has always been willing to give his life for his team’s safety. Time and again, he has jumped in the way, endured torture and pain and ultimately, every time, the chilling cold of death and nothingness. He’s died for them when they never knew it. He’s died for them in front of their eyes. He’s even died at their hands. And given the chance, he would have died a thousand times over for each of the lives they’ve lost today.

But he can’t. He knew that now, knew the true horror of this thing on the ship. He knew what it meant, what it came down to.

But he’s Captain Jack Harkness. And if he could save the three precious lives left, he  _ would. _

Electrical is something of a death trap, he mused to himself as he re-entered the tiny room. There was a large block of panels sitting right in the center of the room, blocking off any light or knowledge of what lay behind it. Simple and easy enough, he supposed, when the lights were on. He was sure that in any sort of crew, the dark and hidden nook behind the main block had a reputation for extracurricular activities. Every ship he’d ever been on had one, and he’d made use of all of them. Given less  _ dire _ circumstances, he and Ianto would probably have already made use of it. But even the thought now simply brings a weary ache to his chest. Wherever they go from here, things will never be the same.

He’s done his fair share of losing people. People he loves, people close to him, constantly. It should have been something he’s used to, after all this time. A soft grunt escaped him as he pried off an electrical panel to expose the wiring beneath, and it took more effort than he’d like to keep that short noise from becoming a groan. But he’s always borne his pain in silence. But this time…

_ This time… _

No offense to Rhys, he mused, as he began the tedious work of stripping the ends of  _ clearly _ slashed wires (what  _ was _ it that had sabotaged this ship?) to put them back together again, but Owen was entirely different. The doctor, like any other member of his team, held a special place in his heart.

He didn’t often let his mind wander too deeply over his connection with the medic, but maybe this was the last chance he’d ever have to. He knew what he was doing with Owen, the familiar way he responded to him. Even though Jack hadn’t yet given up on Gray, he’d had the chance to do something right with Owen. To be there for him when he needed. To provide where he could, even if he knew that Owen was fucked up right to his core. Who wasn’t, around here?

He’d still missed the chance to be there when Owen needed him most.

Story of his life, right? He always failed in the end.

His reverie was startled away from him by an echoing  **_BANG_ ** seemingly immediately beside him, and he jerked around, gaze scanning the near darkness in the hidden nook with a sharp alarm within blue eyes. There was nothing - a slight heat in his gloved hand dragged his attention back, and he released the live wire he was holding. These suits really  _ were _ good protection, then, that could have easily sent him into the dark.

A noise repeated - a scuffling in the dark, like something scrabbling at the walls. Jack could feel his heart hammering against his ribs like it was trying to break out from inside, and the image of that was disquieting on its own. His breathing was loud and almost mechanical in the confines of his helmet, and he forced himself to slow, inhaling deeply and carefully until he could bring his pulse down.

Where was that noise coming from? A careful examination of the room and the door, including the visible hallway outside, confirmed that he’d been alone. The comms in his suit were activated - “Gwen? Ianto? Tosh?” - but brought no response. Useless, apparently. Even with Ianto working the ship’s comms, these were a separate system. No good fixing them - even Tosh couldn’t figure them out fast enough to be of use.

His gaze travels along the area, suspiciously, before it fell to a seemingly unassuming grate in the ground. Almost as if on cue, another distant scrabbling noise reached his ears, and his breath caught in his chest.

_ They’re in the vents. _

Say what anyone would about Jack Harkness, but self-preservation was not his forte. Electrical matters abandoned, he immediately dropped to his knees, throwing open the vent and immediately lowering himself in. It’s roomier than expected, and he finds he can make his way along it relatively quickly. The scrabbling sound has disappeared, but he heads off in the general direction he hopes to find it.

What he is faced with is a maze of tunnels and tubes that set even his quick mind to spinning. Whoever this is has to be able to have some sort of guide to make it anywhere fast. Jack simply goes with his gut - that’s failed him plenty of times, but it’s worked as well. Fifty-fifty chance of death, right?

He’ll take it.

He continues to crawl and scramble through the vents until he feels his knees might never recover from the surely forming bruises, until finally, he finds a vent overhead with light coming through it. A deep breath is taken, and he readies himself to face any threat that might lie beyond it. He gauges himself to be at about the reactor room, so he just hopes he’s not popping up into the middle of some sort of radioactive distributor or something of the sort. A hand braces against the vent, and he pushes his head through.

“... _ Gwen. _ ”

The name escapes him despite his best efforts, and his body moves before he can urge it to, instinct shoving him from the vent and scrambling across the floor to her side. “Gwen, hey, come on.  _ Come on. _ ” His words are too soft for the situation, for the fact that he knows - he  **knows** \- he’s lost another one. He failed again. “Gwen…”

Careful hands take her broken body into his arms, limp as a rag doll, and he turns her over to face him. The back of her helmet is near-intact, the single bullet hole almost innocuous. For all the death he’s seen, he’s not prepared for the mess of gore that splatters her visor from the inside. Right. Bullet to the brain. It’s going to be messy.

The bullet had exited near the face plate and buried itself in the floor, but had missed the glass of the visor -- thankfully, he thinks grimly. It’s only a trickle of blood that escapes, rather than Gwen’s brains blown all over the area. A deep breath is taken, and he pulls her body in close, resting his chin atop the mostly-intact helmet as he rocks back and forth, tears falling from his lids to track down his face. He’d cried for Owen alone, too - it was his lot. To cry over the bodies of everyone he’d ever loved, alone.

No,  _ not _ alone. Ianto was still out there. Tosh was. There were two left, and he was going to protect them. Too many were gone, and they were all he had left. Tosh, the woman he’d rescued, who’d blossomed and grown under his care, who had his back as much as he had hers. And Ianto, the man who’d been through so much pain, so much  _ grief, _ and come out the other side stronger, and still kind. The man he…

He wasn’t going to lose them.

“I’m sorry, Gwen,” he whispered, before he stood and gathered the blood-splattered white suit into his arms, jabbing the button that released the sealed door from the inside with his elbow. The corridor seemed too long now, longer than it ever had been, as step by step he carried Gwen towards the medbay where the bodies of the others would remain until they found a way to get them back to earth. To their home. They didn’t deserve to die out here in the vacuum of space.

He laid her to rest by Rhys, gently draping the sheet over her face as he stepped back to survey the line of bodies, his throat choked with emotion.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, stepping back from them.

“...Jack?”

The voice from behind him startled him, and he turned to look at the small, purple-clad figure hovering in the doorway, her dark gaze wide behind her visor as she gazed upon the third body. “...gwen?”

“I’m sorry, Tosh,” he murmured, and she shook her head, her breathing coming unevenly.

“But she was locked in!”

“They came through the vents,” he returned wearily, before he reached out for her, offering his arms. Surprise spiked through him as she stepped back sharply, shaking her head. “Tosh?”

“How do you know that?” She asked sharply, fists clenched. He had seen that before - the need to reach for a weapon none of them had.

“Because I heard them and tried to chase them. I found my way there - Tosh, what’s wrong?” He could hear the disbelief and concern in his own voice as she stared at him with wary eyes, before backing into the hallway.

“I - I checked the life signals from our suits. Patched into them all, I - Jack, there’s no one else here.  _ Nothing, _ not at all. But one of us was here with Owen, and in the reactor with Rhys.” Her voice was rising higher in volume and pitch, fear taking over her. “It’s not anyone else, Jack, it’s not an alien. It’s  _ among us. _ ”

“Tosh - what? Tosh, it’s not  _ me _ \--” His head was spinning, and he couldn’t quite wrap his thoughts around what she was saying - and then it all clicked into place. The research Owen was doing. He’d looked over it, but his mind had been so jumbled after his death… “The  _ fungus. _ ”

“The what?” He  _ hated _ the look of fear in her eyes directed at him, and he let out a heavy breath.

“The fungus that we found when we came in. Owen was researching it when he died. It was mutating, growing -- and that was just in a  _ test tube. _ What if it got into one of  _ us? _ ”

“How do we tell?!”

“We have to run the scanners. There’s a body scan in here, we just have to figure it out--”

“And trust that one of us isn’t going to kill the other?”

“No, we - we’ll do it all together.”  _ Ianto. _ “Where’s Ianto?”

“Comms, like you said--”

“We have to get him.”

“Stay away from me,” Tosh retorted sharply as Jack stepped forward, stumbling back herself to keep the distance between them even.

“Okay, okay,  _ hey, _ ” he responded with a harsher edge to his tone than he’d expected, raising his hands, palms out. “We’ll stay a good distance from each other. I’m not going to hurt you, Toshiko, not now, not ever.”

“You wouldn’t. I don’t know if you’re _ you, _ ” she whispered, and he nodded. The pain that he felt weighing heavy in his chest at the way she looked at him was enough to stop him in his tracks, but they had to go. They had to find Ianto, had to  _ reverse _ this thing…

If it even  _ could _ be reversed.

Tosh finally moved, down the hall, walking sideways so she could see both Jack and the area they were heading to, and Jack followed what he hoped was a safe distance behind - far enough that neither were a threat to each other, and close enough that he could help her were something to happen.

The hallway opened up into the cavernous cafeteria area, and their echoing footsteps seemed to only amplify the fear that seemed to grip the woman. They were only halfway across to the other door when another set of footsteps joined, heading up the hall from the main area of the ship.

“...Ianto?” Jack called out, and it was only a scant second before he got his response.

“Jack? Fixed the comms, I’m a bit lost trying to find the engines…” He entered the room, finding Tosh there, and nodded. “Tosh, good to see you here, too. Anyone checked in on Gwen?”

“You need to come with us, Ianto,” Tosh interjected, and he frowned, an expression only vaguely visible through his visor in the darkness, as he glanced between them.

“O...kay. What’s wrong? Where’s Gwen?”

“We’ll explain in medbay.”

“Is she okay, Jack?” The tone of their youngest member’s voice became only more insistent, and Jack felt his heart sinking. He knew they were close, and the loss of yet another team member…

“She’s gone, Ianto,” he murmured softly, and watched as the young welshman stiffened, processing the news.

“...ah.” It was a choked sort of noise, and Jack wanted nothing more than to step towards him, to offer comfort. But he couldn’t. If Tosh was right…

She couldn’t be. They’d just have to prove her wrong.

“We need to get to medbay,  _ now, _ ” Tosh insisted, gesturing back. “Whatever this is, it’s one of us.”

“It’s  _ what? _ ” Ianto’s tone seemed only more bewildered, and Jack sighed.

“It’s the fungus. If it gets a host, we don’t know what it’ll do, but it’s been mutating just in a test tube since Owen found it. We need to check that none of us are infected.”

“We’ve all been in suits since we got here. We haven’t had any contact with it.”

“Then we should be fine,” Tosh responded tightly, and Ianto frowned.

“...you don’t  _ really _ think it’s one of us?”

“I don’t know  _ what _ to think,” Jack snapped, before stepping back. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Right, don’t have to tell me again,” he returned, his own tone sharp and clipped. Briefly, Jack felt bad for responding so harshly, but he knew he could apologize later  _ if _ he got them all out of here alive. He led the way back to the medbay, constantly looking over his shoulder at Toshiko in between and Ianto bringing up the rear. He paused in the doorway, allowing them both to awkwardly squeeze past him into the room, before he stepped in after them, carefully avoiding glancing at the bodies. Tosh and Ianto, both, turned to look at Gwen despite themselves, and Jack sighed as he moved over to start up the scanner. It was a large platform, meant to be stood upon, and he stepped into the elevated center first. “Can one of you hit start? Tosh, you tell us what we’re looking for.”

“Any anomalies or differences in normal body chemistry,” she returned faintly, her gaze still on Gwen’s and Owen’s bodies. There was a pause, before Ianto stepped forward to the controls, tapping the glowing green  _ START _ button, before a series of equally colored lasers began to scan up and down Jack’s body.

“Best I could tell from Owen’s tests, it’s a mutating fungus. It gets into the bloodstream or the respiratory system and starts latching on to the cells in our body. Changes them to grow something new, eats our cells alive. From what I saw, it attacks the nervous system last. Leaves the victim their own personality for as long as it can. It helps it stay undercover until it’s too late.”

“So it’s sentient,” Ianto responded slowly as his blue eyes gazed over the data streaming onto the screen from the scan.

“Best I can tell.”

“Then why hasn’t it simply infected us one by one, instead of…?” Tosh’s voice trailed off, and she inhaled deeply. “It isn’t  _ us _ it wants. The slashed wiring, the destroyed systems...there’s something about the ship itself that it wants.”

“A lot of 51st century ships were partially organic. This feels far enough ahead - it could be a prototype. It’s taking the ship for itself, integrating with the organic parts.”

“That’s why there’s no sign of the crew! It’s...they’re in the ship…” Tosh grimaced, shaking her head. “Probably deep in the walls, which is why we haven’t seen them.”

“Organic matter used to patch machinery. Not the first time anyone will hear of it for a long time.”

“God,” Tosh whispered, looking up to Jack in horror. “If it gets out of the ship…”

“I know,” he responded, sighing. “We won’t let that happen, not on my life. Ianto, we close to done?” There was silence from the man standing at the controls, and Jack turned. “ _ Ianto. _ ”

“Should have gone with her first,” Ianto responded quietly, shaking his head, and Jack frowned.

“We can scan her now.”

“Jack--” Tosh’s voice was strangled, and he glanced to her, before her followed her wide, frozen gaze to where it rested on the arm of Ianto’s deep red space suit. “...there’s a tear.”

Jack felt his blood run cold as he found what she was referring to - the tiniest rip in the fabric of Ianto’s suit, just below the elbow. He let out an uneven breath, moving to step off the platform, as Ianto turned to face him slowly. His face hadn’t changed, but something about his vacant, distant expression told Jack exactly what he needed to know.

Ianto was the imposter among them.

“You’re smart. Smarter than the crew,” the thing that was Ianto said, and it felt like some sort of sick mockery that his voice hadn’t changed. “None of them could figure out why. We just want the ship. It will take us to a new planet where we can grow.”

“You grow by killing other people,” Jack spat, his voice a low growl as he backed up, now between Tosh and the Imposter.

“Isn’t that how everything lives? Whether it’s killing and eating or feeding on decay. It’s without malicious intent. We simply thrive.”

“And what about those you take? Nervous system last, yeah? So he’s in there. He’s  _ in there, _ still, you haven’t taken him.” There was a desperation to his tone, and he knew he was giving too much away, but he didn’t care. He didn’t  _ care. _ “He’s fighting inside there.”

“He did take time to break down. Your species seems to have a shocking mental acuity. But we attack the flesh, and he couldn’t resist forever. You, however--”

Jack stepped back again as the Imposter stepped forward, and Tosh’s hand found his. He squeezed it tightly, still shielding her as they backed up, step for step, followed by the Imposter. “Yeah, what about me? You can’t kill me. You’ll know that from his brain.”

“No, but we will take what you are and change it. It’s what we do. With you, we’ll grow forever. We’ll need more than one planet. That, I believe, may finally count as death for you.”

“Jack--” Tosh stepped back, more quickly. “We can rewire the escape pod, we can--”

“I’m not leaving yet, Tosh,” Jack answered in a low voice, his gaze never moving from the Imposter. “He’s in there. He’s a fighter.”

“Jack--”

“Get to the pod, Tosh. I’ll meet you there.”

“ _ Jack! _ ”

“Just **_go,_** Toshiko!”

He shoved her then, releasing her hand as he pushed her out of the medbay doors, and she stumbled and fell heavily against the wall opposite. He reached out to slam a fist against the control panel. With a hiss, the doors slid shut, and locked, from the inside. Just like with Gwen. It hadn’t saved her.

The Imposter seemed briefly surprised, a flicker of an expression moving across the face Jack knew so well, and a pang of hope went through Jack’s heart. Ianto was  _ strong, _ he  **knew** it - he was fighting somewhere in there. He couldn’t save Rhys, or Owen, or Gwen, but he  _ could _ save Tosh. He  _ could _ and  _ would _ save Ianto Jones. Even if he died trying, for good.

“He’s not gone. I know he’s not, he’s still in there.”

“Conversation is useless, Jack.”

“It’s not. Because I know him. I know Ianto Jones, and I know he won’t give up. I know that because he hasn’t, not once, he kept going when people needed him, and that’s what it is, right here, right now.  _ I _ need him. I need you, Ianto. I need you to push through this to  _ fight _ this.” The closed door was at his back, the Imposter standing in front of him, but the onwards approach paused, at least for the moment. “I need you to fight this and get through it, you hear me? This thing? I’ll fix it, I’ll fix  _ you, _ but I can’t if you don’t stay alive in there. It attacks your brain  _ last, _ Ianto, it keeps you who you are. It keeps  _ you. _ And I’ll be damned if that isn’t a survivor.” Blue eyes searched those of lightest hue, desperate for a flicker of life, a  _ sign,  _ **anything** that would prove that Ianto wasn’t lost to him forever. “I’ve seen you come through  _ so much, _ this isn’t it.  **Not** here,  **not** now, not to some stupid parasite!” His voice had become a snarl, and he stepped forward now, closing the distance between himself and the Imposter until they were face to face, their visors all that separated them.

“Because I know you. And **_I_** **_love you,_** Ianto Jones. And you’re going to beat this.”

He inhaled deeply, shakily, still seeking even the slightest hint of the man he loved out. “Tell me you’re there.”

One second passed. Two. Three. And then Ianto’s hands came up, unlocking the air seal on his helmet, as he met Jack’s eyes squarely.

“Goodbye, Jack Harkness.”

The ship plunged into darkness.

From where Toshiko Sato stood by the escape pod staring at the display in the wall, the life sign that was Captain Jack Harkness flickered out of existence.

  
  


**DEFEAT.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ouch y'all, this fucking hurt. Technically, this is the end! I have an alternate ending that I am going to write up and post as the last chapter, but this is always how it was supposed to go. Who was your guess until now, though. Was red always sus?
> 
> As for Jack and Tosh's killing orders and motives - I really have no clue. I only thought through the first three.
> 
> This turned out way more dramatic than expected, and right up until the last second I wanted that Janto love confession to fix everything. Unfortunately, Among Us ends with the Imposter getting ejected into space, and...well.
> 
> Also let's not leave loose ends: he definitely killed Tosh, too. You just never see that in the actual games of Among Us, and I wanted to stick to that. Ianto was never alive past Owen's death. Just his personality and synapses remained as a puppet for the fungus.
> 
> And for that dark and horrible end, I apologize. :)


	5. EPILOGUE

**DEFEAT.**

The screen went dark, and a string of ghosts appeared - minus, as it were, one red-suited imposter. The Hub echoed with an uproar of arguments and protests the moment it did, a mixture of anger and shock filling the space between the team where they sat, scattered about the main area with their devices.

“Now  _ why _ am I  _ always _ the first to die?!” Rhys’ voice was the first to rise above the rest, brash tones ringing throughout the area as he looked up in protest from the couch, setting aside the Torchwood-issued tablet that had been handed to him by the resident tech genius.

“That would be because you are  _ always _ alone,” Ianto responded from his perch at the bottom of the stairs, the quirk to his lips nothing short of smug as he raised an eyebrow at the other.

“You  _ do _ tend to take all the long tasks alone,” Gwen laughed, shifting her legs across Rhys’ lap, her tablet still angled away from him out of habit. “Thought I was damn well safe in security.”

“He sent an alien tongue spike through my  _ head, _ ” Owen retorted with a roll of his eyes from his own desk, and Tosh laughed from her workstation.

“Shouldn’t have trusted him in the medbay.”

“He was imposter the last three times, no one really expected it to be him  _ again. _ ” Jack’s voice floated from above where he sat at the edge of the catwalk, legs dangling down and arms resting on the lower rung of the handrail. He’d been doing his best to peer down at Ianto’s screen, which  _ everyone _ knew, and which had been easily thwarted by the Welshman in question.

“Oi! That’s not true, I was the imposter last round,” Gwen protested. “It’s not  _ my _ fault Rhys can’t keep a straight face.”

“You killed me first too! I should be able to trust my  **wife.** ”

“Not in this game!” Owen started, and the rest echoed the sentiment. “In any case, it was a fluke that he managed to kill me, my screen froze up.”

“Sounds like someone’s a sore  _ loser, _ ” Jack shot back, pointer finger and thumb forming an  _ L _ on his forehead as Owen pulled a face back at him.

“Right, and you weren’t the one who survived, either.”

“I took that bullet for Tosh!”

“You couldn’t get out of the way fast enough,” she responded with a laugh, turning away from her workstation. “I told you I didn’t trust either of you, and I knew Ianto was especially suspicious.”

“Why, because he’s better at the game than you? Come on, Tosh, we know you’ve got it out for him every time.”

“It  _ does _ seem to be the case that I’m targeted whenever you’re the imposter,” Ianto teased, ignoring the indignant look that flashed across her face.

“Running score - who’s won as imposter yet?” She asked instead, and Ianto immediately rattled off a list.

“Gwen twice, Owen once. Tosh three times, and me - six.”

“And none for Jack and Rhys,” Gwen finished with a laugh as she shifted, tapping her tablet. “Okay, okay, one more time, and then we’ve got to head home.”

“Ah, how domestic,” Owen retorted, tapping his screen as well. “Right, I’m ready to mop the floor with the lot of you.”

“Keep dreaming big,” Jack called down, grinning as the rest of them clicked in one by one to the ominous tone.

**_THERE IS ONE IMPOSTER AMONG US._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY I WAS TOO SAD. Have this epilogue, make of it what you will. Let it just be gameplay or real. Go with your gut.
> 
> It's real to me, but I like a happy option.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, this is a play on Aliens Among Us and God Among Us. It was too perfect a title to pass up. I've been playing AU ceaselessly so this is what happens. RIP everyone on board and also my emotions. Thanks for indulging me in this silly little au. The rest will be posted tomorrow!


End file.
